In addition to opposing mob violence, there's another reason statues of our founding fathers, including those who owned slaves, should not be abolished.

They were Enlightenment thinkers who, w one sentence, changed the course of mankind.

"All men are created equal," they wrote.

At a time when France, England, Spain and virtually all of Europe were led by monarchs whose authority came from God, men were not created equal. There were lords, peasants and differing classes of people everywhere, including slaves.

America was different. Despite the fact that many owned slaves, that one sentence changed the world. Efforts to abolish slavery enroute to equality were launched throughout the US.

In 1787, Thomas Jefferson and the Confederation Congress outlawed slavery in the Northwest territories of OH, IN, IL, WI and MI. The slave trade was banned by the US in 1808. We fought a Civil War to abolish it totally.

Inspired by the US revolution, France threw out its King, declaring liberty, equality and fraternity, even though slavery remained legal until 1794. Napolean re-allowed slavery and it was finally abolished in France in 1848.

The British Empire banned slavery in 1833, Cuba (Spain) in 1886, Brazil in 1888. The last nation to ban slavery was Mauritania in 1981.

"All men are created equal." Our founding fathers built a new future for the world. Equality grew to include women and its definition is being tested and expanded today.

No other government at the time was as enlightened as ours. No other country was as good and visionary as ours. No other founding fathers were as significant.

Several founding fathers were slave holders. But they were also the men who did what none before them had done - they created a new world where eventually freedom took root for all.

We should built statues to these people. Not take them down.